Welcome to the Joli Experiment: 30 days on a dollar!

Our adventures in food during the month of August 2008 when we attempted to feed a family of 6 on $1 a day per person. That's $180 clams! We utlilized local resources, gardens, cooked from scratch, coupon shopped, and did anything else neccessary to nourish a growing family of omnivores. Follow each day for recipes, photos, musings, and food for thought from August 1st to August 30th.

Our Cash Pot:

Start: $180Spent: $178Balance: $2

Food for Thought:

Aug 1:

"We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons."~ Alfred E. Newman

Aug 2:

"As a child my dinner consisted of two choices: take it or leave it."~ Buddy Hackett.

Aug 3:

I went into a McDonald's yesterday and said, 'I'd like some fries.' The girl at the counter said, 'Would you like some fries with that?' "~ Jay Leno

Aug 4:

"The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found."~ Calvin Trillin

Aug 5:

"He who eats alone, chokes alone."~ Proverb

Aug 6:

“I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today”~ Wimpy

From Popeye cartoons. Line often uttered by Popeye's portly friend Wimpy. Of course, "Tuesday" would never come, and so Wimpy constantly secured himself a free lunch. Thus the line is used to jokingly indicate that one would like to "borrow" something without any real intention of ever paying you back.

Aug 7:

"Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good."

~Alice May Brock

Aug 8:

“In our society growing food ourselves has become the most radical of acts. It is truly the only effective protest, one that can —and will — overturn the corporate powers that be. By the process of directly working in harmony with nature, we do the one thing most essential to change the world — we change ourselves.”

~ Jules Dervaes

Aug 9:

At length I recollected the thoughtless saying of a great princess, who, on being informed that the country people had no bread, replied,

"Then let them eat cake"

~ Maria Theresa of Spain

Aug 10:

"If organic farming is the natural way, shouldn't organic produce just be called 'produce' and make the pesticide laden stuff take the burden of an adjective?"

"Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm."

~ Ambrose Bierce

Aug 13:

"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie."

~Jim Davis

Aug 14:

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well if one has not dined well."

~ Virginia Woolfin "A Room of Ones Own"

Aug 15:

"Nobody seems more obsessed by diet than our anti-materialistic, otherworldly, New Age spiritual types. But if the material world is merely illusion, an honest guru should be as content with Budweiser and bratwurst as with raw carrot juice, tofu and seaweed slime."~ Edward Abbey

Aug 16:

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

~ Forrest Gump

Aug 17:

"The food of one person will be sufficient for two, and the food of two people will be sufficient for four, and the food of four will be sufficient for eight".

~ Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam)

Aug 18:

"If life deals you lemons, make lemonade."

~Anonymous

Aug 19:

“When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.”

~Desiderius Erasmus

Aug 20:

“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.”

~James Beard

Aug 21:

"Bread not only to nourish the body, but the spirit as well. A bread best shared around a table and savoured amongst friends."

~ Alain Coumont

Aug 22:

"I don't eat junk foods and I don't think junk thoughts."

~Peace Pilgrim

Aug 23:

"I am proud to be an American. Because an American can eat anything on the face of this earth as long as he has two pieces of bread."

~ Bill Cosby

Aug 24

"If you can't feed a hundred people, than feed just one"

~Mother Teresa

Aug 25:

"Give us this day our daily taste. Restore to us soups that spoons will not sink in and sauces which are never the same twice. Raise up among us stews with more gravy than we have bread to blot it with. Give us pasta with a hundred fillings."

~Robert Farrar Capon

Aug 26:

"Enough is as good as a feast."

~ Mary Poppins... practically perfect in every way.

Aug 27:

"Did you ever stop to taste a carrot? Not just eat it, but taste it? You can't taste the beauty and energy of the earth in a Twinkie"

ALPHABET SOUP, The ABC's of our Learning Experiment.

This experiment has had multiple layers of learning. Each one of us is experiencing something new everyday. We are more aware of world hunger even though we are not hungry. We are testing our own boundaries, limits, comforts and learning every step or bite of the way. Here are some other words that come to mind:

ALPHABET SOUP:

Aappetiteabundance

B

budgetbiodiversity

C

communitycoupon

D

dinnerdishes

E

economicseating

F

foodfruit

G

gardengroceries

H

home grownhealth

I

ingredientsimagination more important

J

Jujubejuice

K

kitchenKool aid

L

locallunch

M

moneymac & cheese

N

neighborsnoodles

O

organicolive oil

P

potluckPitzer & Pomona garden

Q

questquestioning

R

resourcefulnessrice

S

soupserendipity

T

tomatoestop ramen

U

universalunderstanding

V

vegetablesvillage

W

waterwaste

X

xeriscapingxylem

Y

yummyyield

Z

zucchinizip car

"He who knows what sweets and virtues arein the ground, the waters, the plants, theheavens, and how to come at theseenchantments, is the rich and royal man."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

What the World Eats in a Week:

A Dollar A Day! $1/person/day

We were blown away by all the Coke and other multi-national labels in the hungry planet video clip above that seemed to permeate the tables and kitchens all over the world! It would appear us Earthlings can't live without our sugar water (or make that high fructose corn syrup water). Our backdrop is the only Pepsi you'll see in this month's photos. Aleli has nicknamed this old half of a tin sign, " Food Shortage".

Tuesday, August 12

The sun DID pour in like butterscotch and stuck to all our senses. Or is it stuckdeded? Whatever. It was a beautiful morning and breakfast was leftover butternut squash (still fantastic a day later) and rice with some brown sugar, a dash of cinnamon and a modest splash of milk. Although we ate every meal, we had some technical difficulties in photographing each. With all the money we're saving on food, you'd think we could splurge on some back up batteries. Even the rechargeables are exhausted!

An audible "eeuw" from James at the idea of this meal.... a total mmmmmm from Baby upon actually chowin' it down. Can't please all the people all the time.

Lunch was nothing but leftovers, leftovers, leftovers. It was time to catch up an all the gosh forsaken leftovers! They were actually edible though and we looked forward to a freshly made pasta dinner with extra basil for our basil lovin' kids. Kettle corn is the new black. We popped up another batch for the whole family this time. Definitely a new favorite. Meals today cost in total about $2.15. Maybe we can catch up sooner than later, budget wise.

The real shocker in all of this is that WE have waste. We are actually generating waste. There is food left over....... enough to spoil. There is weird science in the back of our fridge. In these "recessionary" times with all this talk of world food shortages and us playing with this dollar a day set up...... there is waste. Somewhere someone in this world is watching their child go very hungry...... and here we are throwing out what could have gone into a human belly. Somehow, we've got to find solutions for all this. Businesses must thrive AND individuals must eat. How do we get there.... as a world family? How can everyone make a buck AND cover the basics? Many questions occurred to us on leftovers day. We already knew there is abundance. But this is ridiculous. This experiment/ experience gets more textured by the day.